LUCCHESE'S(Madonna, Caldwell, Londonio) GET SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON

Matty Madonna, Chris Londonio, and Terrence Caldwell, will serve the rest of their life in prison for the murder of Purple Gang leader Michael Meldish in 2013.  Matty Madonna is no stranger to the streets as he was once the boss of the Lucchese crime family.  Meldish was killed in a night time hit in the Bronx in 2013, while sitting in his car.  His crime? According to the feds, Madonna was irate over Meldish refusing to pay back a debt owed, telling Madonna, "to go fuck himself."

At the sentencing Monday, Madonna, 84, repeatedly told the judge he was wrongly convicted and had "nothing to do with the murder of Meldish."  Chris Londonio according to the feds was tasked with driving Meldish to his death, where Terrence Caldwell would open up killing Meldish in the front seat of his car.   It's widely assumed Steven "Wonder Boy" Crea will be sentenced to life in prison as well for the hit on Meldish.

MADONNA HISTORY

Matty Madonna was famous for bringing in Nicky Barnes into the drug scene, and teaching him how to organized his operation.  The two met in Greenhaven Correctional in upstate New York in 1959.   It wasn't just teaching Barnes how to organized but he also provided, at least according to the feds, massive amounts of heroin to move.  Madonna would drop off the car loaded with H in a parking lot in Manhattan, Barnes would then pick up the car, sell the drugs, then return the car filled with cash which Madonna would pick up.  The deal between the two lasted from 59-75.  In 1975 Madonna would get pinched for narcotics trafficking.  In 1976 Madonna would be sentenced to 30 years in prison.  It's long been suspected that Barnes gave up Madonna to the feds.

Madonna would be released in 1995, after 20 years.  He would return to New York and officially get inducted into the Lucchese crime family in 1998.  He was inducted as a reward for keeping his mouth shut.  In a relatively short amount of time he would become a captain, and would do another stint in prison but would be released in 2003. 

Eventually Steven Crea, Louis Daidone, and Dominic Truscello would be convicted in a slew of crimes after Joe DeFede  the acting boss, turned federal cooperator.   The Lucchese's would then make a three man ruling panel including Matty Madonna, Aniello Migliore and Joe DiNapoli.    When Crea was released from prison the ruling panel was disbanded as Crea allegedly took over as boss.

In 2007, The New Jersey Task Force arrested Madonna, DiNapoli and 32 others who were either associates or made men in the Lucchese crime family.  In an operation law enforcement dubbed "Operation Heat," the feds would trace  $2.2 billion dollars in illegal gambling, loan sharking, extortion, money laundering, and gun trafficking enterprises.   The scheme the mob used, was by collection betting funds over the internet via Costa Rica.   In Costa Rica the inside man for them was alleged Gambino elder statesman Joe Mancino, who was never charged in that indictment.   Nicky Scarfo Jr, Ralph Perna, were arrested in 2010 as a part of that scheme.

In 2008, news got worse for Madonna, as the Village Voice reported he was an employee for Big Geyser Inc, which was widely believed to be a no show job.  Madonna would bail out, but in 2009 more indictments would come.   

October 1, 2009, Madonna, DiNapoli and 287 others were rounded up and indicted for racketeering.  The indictment alleged that Madonna oversaw a $400 million dollar operation, which included many of the crimes mentioned above.  Then a second indictment came down alleging that Madonna was shaking down building inspectors, and had a vast building inspection scheme going on.  In that indictment was also bribery charges with the building inspectors.   Madonna would plead not guilty to those charges. 

Madonna wouldn't answer the 2007 indictment until 2015, when he would plead guilty in return for a 5 year sentence.   He would also plead guilty for the 2009 indictment and parlayed that into a 1 to 3 year sentence which would be served concurrently.   In other words, it was the deal of a lifetime, that was until he got indicted with Crea and others for murder.   It wasn't the only issue he had.  The Lucchese's were groaning over Madonna's inability to stay away from arrests. Then 2017 happened and he would be indicted with 17 others for racketeering, murder, extortion and other crimes.  He would be found guilty in 2019, and sentenced to life in prison yesterday.

Vic Amuso, widely considered to be the boss behind bars, had enough of Crea and Madonna and according to mob mole John Pennisi, sent word that Madonna was done, Mike DeSantis would be taking over as acting boss, and if Crea or Madonna fought against the idea, they would be killed. That ended the reign of Madonna and Crea.  

Steven Crea has yet to be sentenced, but was found guilty for the same charges as the rest, and one would naturally assume that he will receive a life sentence as well.